• My Paper Towel Problem

    My Paper Towel Problem

    This is hard so I need a second. (Ahem.) Ok, my name is Adam Roberts and I have a problem. It started when I began cooking nine years ago and Sara Moulton said on the TV that you should blot your chicken before it goes into the oven to help the skin crisp up. I’ve…

  • Chicken and Hummus Together On A Plate with Pita

    Chicken and Hummus Together On A Plate with Pita

    When we had guests staying with us last week, and more friends popped over, I found myself making big dinners for everyone and I loved doing it. The idea was to serve up lots of stuff with more stuff on the side (like I did on Taco Night) and the biggest hit of all was…

  • Food Crimes: Soft on Soft Sandwiches

    Food Crimes: Soft on Soft Sandwiches

    Turkey and cheese is a sandwich staple for many people in this universe except I’m not one of those people. That’s because the idea of biting into soft turkey while also biting down on soft cheese totally skeeves me out. Soft on soft is absolutely the worst offense a sandwich maker can commit next to…

  • Four-Hour Lamb Shoulder with White Beans and Olive Tapenade

    Four-Hour Lamb Shoulder with White Beans and Olive Tapenade

    Hold your ears, short ribs, and hide your eyes pork butt: lamb shoulder is quickly becoming my favorite cut of meat to cook at home. I’ve sung its praises before here on the blog, but lately I’ve been on a real lamb shoulder kick. I made April Bloomfield’s version for a crowd recently and they…

  • 10 Food Rules Worth Breaking

    10 Food Rules Worth Breaking

    Most of us know the rules when it comes to cooking: wash your hands after handling raw chicken, don’t wash a cast iron skillet with soap, etc. Yet, over my many years of cooking (both with chefs and by myself), I’ve learned that certain rules are time-wasters that do very little for you or your…

  • Make Your Own Taco Night (with Homemade Corn Tortillas)

    Make Your Own Taco Night (with Homemade Corn Tortillas)

    When you have a three year-old staying with you, chances are you’re probably not going out to dinner. We did go out one night and that’s a whole story in and of itself. Most nights, though, I cooked and that turned out to be a lot of fun, coming up with food to make for…

  • Soaking The Pan

    Soaking The Pan

    There’s a certain person that I live with (not the cat) who, whenever he does the dishes, often leaves a pan to soak. This infuriates me because I consider it the ultimate cop-out. Also, what it really means is that when he’s done there’s still work to do because when I want to cook the…

  • What’s Stopping Me From Becoming A Vegetarian?

    What’s Stopping Me From Becoming A Vegetarian?

    I’m on the edge. This story got me there, this one (which I could only read part of) almost pushed me over. Superbugs and industrial slaughterhouses are facts that live in my brain now and they reside there with images from Food Inc., essays by Michael Pollan, and all the other tracts and screeds I’ve…

  • Black Chickpeas and Roasted Sweet Potatoes on Black Chickpea Hummus

    Black Chickpeas and Roasted Sweet Potatoes on Black Chickpea Hummus

    Pride in the name of dinner: I’m really proud of this healthy dish I came up with last week. It started in the morning when I cracked open a bag of black chickpeas, poured them into a large red bowl, filled it with cold water and left for the day. 8 hours later, when I…

  • Food Is Art At Red Medicine

    Food Is Art At Red Medicine

    Pop quiz, hot shot: you’re at dinner, sitting at a table, celebrating your anniversary, and someone puts this glass bowl in front of you. Do you: (a) Admire this beautiful display as a table decoration or do you (b) Eat it? The answer, it turns out, is both.